Nooj

Nooj(ヌージ, Nūji?) is a non-playable character in Final Fantasy X-2. He is the meyvn of the Youth League and an ex-member of the Crusaders and the Crimson Squad, from which he is known as the "deathseeker" who joined the squad to seek a warrior's death. His left arm and leg were destroyed in a battle with Sin prior to his joining of the squad, and are replaced with machina prosthetics. He is Leblanc's love interest, although it is unknown if he returns her feelings.

At the time of Operation Mi'ihen, Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai, along with their mission recorder, Paine, entered the Den of Woe as their final test to become members of the Crimson Squad. The operation was overseen by MaesterWen Kinoc to investigate rumors of people seeing visions of a colossal machina within the den.[1] While in the cave, Shuyin's spirit that dwelt there took Nooj as a host, using his eagerness to die to control him. After escaping the cave and the YevonWarrior Monks ordered to kill them to cover up Kinoc's failed operation[1], the team disbanded at Mi'ihen Highroad. Shuyin forced Nooj to shoot his teammates in the back, but they survived. Nooj dedicated his life to discovering the secrets hidden by Yevon after having seen a vision of Vegnagun in the den, though he was unaware of Shuyin's presence in his body.

After the onset of the Eternal Calm, Nooj founds the Youth League and they make the Mushroom Rock their headquarters. After the fall of Yevon Spira is left with a power vacuum and different factions vie to steer Spira to a path they deem right, Youth League among them. One of Youth League's missions is to collect ancient sphere recordings and release them to the public to reveal Spira's true history that Yevon had so long tried to conceal. Unknown to him, Nooj's pursuit of the ancient spheres is fueled by Shuyin's latent spirit within him guiding him to discover the location of Vegnagun.

Nooj met outside Den of Woe.

Two years later, the Gullwings encounter Nooj at Kilika Port where he and the Youth League are demanding a certain sphere should be released to the public. Due to the current mission and the ensuing chaos, the Gullwings have no time to meet Nooj face to face. The Gullwings snatch the controversial sphere recording for themselves and after viewing it decide to relinquish it to one of the factions fighting over it. If the Gullwings side with the Youth League they are given an honorable welcome. Paine is now a member of the Gullwings, but pretends to not know Nooj who also avoids bringing up the past, merely discussing the sphere's contents: images of Vegnagun, a massive machina weapon Shuyin has been manipulating Nooj to find. The Gullwings can later meet Nooj outside the Den of Woe, which is now sealed, and he gives Paine a Crimson Sphere.

Thanks to cooperation with Leblanc, Vegnagun's location is revealed to be under Bevelle, and Nooj heads there to find it. Before he can do anything Vegnagun flees to the Farplane, roused by Nooj's hatred. He meets up with Baralai and Gippal in Vegnagun's former lair to discuss the issue, but because of Nooj's "betrayal" two years ago, Baralai threatens to kill him. This in turn triggers Gippal's frustration and he threatens Baralai. The stream of negative emotions fully reawakens Shuyin, who takes Baralai as his new host.

Nooj's plan.

Shuyin, now fully in control of Baralai, jumps into the pit where Vegnagun used to be that leads to the Farplane, and Nooj and Gippal pursue. When Yuna falls into the hole left in the wake of the disappeared fayth after defeating Ixion in Djose Temple, she awakes at Farplane Glen. Nooj and Gippal find her and hand her spheres for Paine before heading deeper into the abyss, asking Yuna to "take care of things topside". Yuna escapes the Farplane and quells the rising tension in Spira risen due to the disappearance of the faction leaders, Nooj, Baralai and Gippal, by hosting a concert on the Thunder Plains. Aftereard YRP ventures into the Farplane to stop Shuyin from controlling Vegnagun, and catch up with Nooj and Gippal.

Nooj hatches a plan to injure Baralai so Shuyin will abandon him and take him over instead, and then kill himself. Yuna rejects this plan and they work together to dismantle Vegnagun and free Baralai. bvegnagun us deactivated and Shuyin's spirit abandons Baralai, manifesting a corporeal body for itself, but he is defeated by YRP. After Shuyin's spirit returns in peace to the Farplane, Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai settle their differences and decide to lead Spira toward a brighter future together. They host a conference at the Luca stadium to address the populace, but Yuna and her friends cannot attend as they are heading home to Besaid.

Nooj can be recruited as a party member in Final Fantasy X-2 International and the HD Remaster versions through the Creature Creator system. To recruit Nooj, the player must defeat him in the Den of Woe and must set up a Special Monster Pod in Mushroom Rock. Skipping the cutscenes in the Den will prevent the player from obtaining him. He retains many of his moves from his boss battle and can use any of the common dresspheres. Like all monster allies, Nooj is controlled by the game's AI.

Rippling Chroma and Greedy Aura are similar moves. The main difference is that Greedy Aura damages both HP and MP whereas Rippling Chroma deals a hefty amount of damage to HP. Lightfall can be learned by getting hit by Nooj's Lightfall, which deals approximately 5000 damage regardless of Defense or Magic Defense while playing as Nooj, and surviving it. The player must be at a high enough in level.

In Chapter 5, if the player obtains all the Crimson Spheres and heads to the Den of Woe they can enter a series of battles. A pyrefly illusion of Nooj is the last boss encountered in the den. Nooj uses a gun in battle and has two special gun skills and a special attack.

The first skill creates a glyph under the player and explodes, causing damage. The second skill is named Greedy Aura, and it creates the same glyph under all allies, but causes less damage and also MP loss. His most powerful attack is Lightfall, where (when low on HP) he levitates into the air and creates a giant ball of light and hurls it down upon all allies, always causing 5,000 points of HP damage.

Nooj can also be fought in the Fiend Arena in the International and HD Remaster versions.

Nooj is voiced by Nobutoshi Canna in the Japanese version and George Newbern in the English version. He shares the same English voice actor as Sephiroth. It was Newbern's performance as Nooj that got him the role of Sephiroth after positive reactions from fans.